DAVID LIMBAUGH'S new book, "Persecution: How Liberals
Are Waging War Against Christianity" will make you cry for
your country. (But don't pray for your country if you're
anywhere near a public school!) Released this week,
Limbaugh's copiously researched book documents how the
courts, the universities, the media, Hollywood and government
institutions react to any mention of Christianity like Superman
recoiling from kryptonite, Dracula from sunlight, or Madonna
from soap and water.

His straight, factual narrative of what is happening in our
public schools makes you wonder how much longer America
can survive liberalism. In a public school in St. Louis, a teacher
spotted the suspect, fourth-grader Raymond Raines, bowing
his head in prayer before lunch. The teacher stormed to
Raymond's table, ordered him to stop immediately and sent
him to the principal's office. The principal informed the young
malefactor that praying was not allowed in school. When
Raymond was again caught praying before meals on three
separate occasions, he was segregated from other students,
ridiculed in front of his classmates, and finally sentenced to a
week's detention.

Before snack time in her kindergarten class in Saratoga
Springs, N.Y., little Kayla Broadus held hands with two of her
classmates and recited this prayer: "God is good, God is great,
thank you, God, for my food." The alert teacher pounced on
Kayla, severely reprimanded her, and reported her to the
school administration. In short order, the principal sent a
sternly worded letter to Kayla's parents advising them that Kayla
was not allowed to pray in school, aloud or with others . The
school board then issued a triumphant press release crowing
about its victory over a kindergartner praying before snack time.
Thus was creeping theocracy in Saratoga Springs stopped dead
in its tracks! Kayla's mother brought a lawsuit, winning Kayla the
right to pray out loud. But she was still prohibited from holding
hands with others while she prayed . Hearing the G-word in
kindergarten might interfere with the school's efforts to teach
proper sexual techniques in the first grade.

Thanks to the vigilance of an alert teacher at Lynn Lucas Middle
School outside of Houston, two sisters carrying Bibles were
prevented from bringing their vile material into a classroom. The
teacher stopped the students at the classroom door and
marched them to the principal's office . (Maybe it was just the
sight of public school students carrying a book of any kind that
set off alarm bells.) The sisters' mother was called and warned
that the school intended to report her to Child Protective
Services. When the mother arrived, the teacher threw the Bibles
in the wastebasket, shouting, "This is garbage!"

In another display of tolerance at Lynn Lucas Middle School,
school administrators snatched three students' books with
covers displaying the Ten Commandments, ripped the covers
off, threw them in the garbage, and told the students that the
Ten Commandments constituted "hate speech."

After the massacre at Columbine High School, students and
families were invited to paint tiles above student lockers. The
school district had taken all reasonable precautions,
immediately deploying an army of secular "grief counselors"
with teddy bears to descend on the school after the attack .
Nonetheless, some students painted their tiles with
"objectionable" messages, such as: "4/20/99: Jesus Wept"
and "God Is Love." This would not stand: The school removed
90 tiles with offending religious messages . A federal court
upheld the school's censorship of the religious tiles . Of
course, Columbine school officials had earned a measure of
deference after having inculcated such a fine sense of morality
in their students that two boys could walk into school one day
and stage a bloody massacre. You don't argue with a track
record like that.

Not all mentions of religion constitute "hate speech." In Tupelo,
Miss., school administrators methodically purged all Christmas
carols of any religious content - and then led the children in a
chant of: "Celebrate Kwanzaa!"

At Pattison Elementary school in Katy, Texas, Christmas songs
are banned, but students are threatened with grade reductions
for refusing to sing songs celebrating other religious faiths . In
New York City, the chancellor of the Department of Education
prohibited the display of Nativity scenes in public schools, while
expressly allowing the Jewish menorah and the Islamic star and
crescent to be displayed . Some would say that was overkill
inasmuch as New York City is already the home of the world's
largest public display built in commemoration of Islam:
Ground Zero .

Between issuing laws prohibiting discrimination against
transgendered individuals and running up a $38 billion deficit,
the California Legislature mandated a three-week immersion
course in Islam for all seventh-graders . A "crash course" in
Islam, you might call it, if that weren't so ironic . Students are
required to adopt Muslim names, plan a trip to Mecca, play a
jihad game, pray to "Allah, the Compassionate" and to chant
"Praise to Allah! Lord of Creation!" They are encouraged to
dress in Muslim garb . Students are discouraged, however,
from stoning girls at the school dances, abusing their "Jew"
math teachers or blowing up their classmates . A popular
student textbook, "Across the Centuries," treats the Inquisition
and Salem witch-hunts as typical of Christianity, but never gets
around to mentioning the Muslims' conquest of Spain, the Battle
of Tours, or the execution of Jews in Qurayza . Or 9-11 . There
is no surer proof of Christ's divinity than that he is still so hated
some 2,000 years after his death .

Limbaugh's "Persecution" covers it all in staggering,
heartbreaking detail. His methodical description of what is
happening in our public schools alone will call to mind the hate
speech banned in Columbine: "Jesus Wept."